Making History in Historic Fredericksburg

The brand new stadium in Fredericksburg, Va., doesn't even have a name yet. 

The original plan for my latest baseball trip was to see a couple of games in Wilmington, Del., and Aberdeen, Md., and to catch up with some relatives and friends nearby. A few days before I left, I realized that the Fredericksburg Nationals would be playing the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in their new stadium about an hour away from where I’d be staying, and so, I added another night of baseball to my schedule. 

It was $2 Tuesday. All the $2 seats were gone, but I had a couple
of $2 "walking tacos." small bags of Fritos with chili and cheese.

A half-dozen teams are playing in brand new stadiums this year, the most since seven ballparks opened in 2005. Four of them, including the Nationals and the Cannon Ballers, were supposed to open in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to that. Also, plans for farewell seasons were wiped out in Pawtucket, R.I., where the AAA Red Sox played for many years at historic McCoy Stadium, and in Beloit, Wisc., home of the Snappers. The Worcester Red Sox began playing in their new Polar Park with their new name and smiley face logo this year. In Beloit, the team is playing one more season as the Snappers, but they’ve already had a contest for a new name that will be introduced next year.

The teams whose opening seasons were delayed include the Rocket City Trash Pandas, who were the Mobile Bay Bears before they moved to northern Alabama, the Wichita Wind Surge, formerly the New Orleans Baby Cakes, and the Cannon Ballers, who are still in Kannapolis, but have a brand new ballpark in the same location where they played as the Intimidators.

 
The big digital board in center field is made to look like 
the little green hand-operated scoreboard to the left.

The Fredericksburg Nationals are the fourth team that had to wait a year to christen their new stadium. They moved a few miles south of their previous location in Woodbridge, Va., where they played as the Potomac Nationals and a number of other names for four decades.

The team has embraced their historic hometown and two of its famous former residents, George Washington, who lived across the Rappahannock River and his mother, Mary. Frederick is home to Mary Washington University, also named for George’s mother, and Mary Washington Healthcare is a prominent sponsor of the team.

Shirts and other merchandise in the team store feature
George Washington and his mother, Mary.

Fredericksburg’s colonial history goes back to the 1600s when a settlement and fort were established. It was an important city in the Civil War with its location about halfway between the two rival capital cities, Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Va. Thousands of slaves in the region reached freedom behind Union lines. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park preserve several the sites of four major battles in the area.

Fredericksburg got its name from Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son of George II who died in 1751 before his father and never became king. Next in line was his own son, who would later take the throne as George III. This is the most recent incidence of a Prince of Wales not ascending to the throne.

Gus the mascot, a purple . . . something, has a team of helpful assistants.

The new stadium is easy to get to off I-95 at the north end of the sprawling Spotsylvania Town Centre shopping mall, a sponsor of all the foul balls during the game. The public address announcer says, “That’s another Spotsylvania Town Centre . . .” and the fans finish with a collective, “. . . foul ball!” 

There was a little bit of history on the playing field in a lopsided game where the Cannon Ballers took an early 3-0 lead. The score was tied at 3 runs apiece after nine innings, and it was three up and three down for the Cannon Ballers in the top of the 10th.

The bullpen races home to join the celebration.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Ricardo Mendez put down a sacrifice bunt and beat the throw to first advancing Viandel Pena to 3rd. An intentional walk loaded the bases for Jake Randa, who struck out swinging for the first out.

Kevin Strohschein hit the next pitch out of the park, "deep into the Fredericksburg night" and into the history books for the walk-off win. It was the first walk-off home run and the first grand slam for the Fredericksburg Nationals in their short history at Fred Nats Ballpark.

Final Fredericksburg Nationals 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3, 10 innings.